Raptor in Flight

Alert Gazette readers will recall that we have a[t least one] (possibly murderous) red-shouldered hawk living abiding in the trees adjacent to our house. He or she (or they) frequently fly around the vicinity and since we’re not small mammals, it’s a treat to see them and to listen to their plaintive cries.

I’m hardly ever (read: never) able to video the hawks in flight because they’re fast and I’m not, but one recently flew into the frame of my game camera and triggered a short video. I find the flight of raptors somewhat fascinating, and I pulled a few frames of that video into a short gif.

Pretty cool, huh?

This animated gif is eight frames of still photos, six of which actually show the hawk in flight. Following are those six frames in their uncropped splendor. The contraption in the foreground is one of my armadillo traps (sadly ineffective on this particular day).

The only thing that could have improved this sequence of photos is if the hawk was carrying a raccoon in its talons.